


Coming Home

by Not_You



Series: The Zen And Art Of Getting Naked To Music [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Boss/Employee Relationship, Business Trip, F/M, M/M, Multi, POV Alternating, Stark Industries, tony is in fact with the DJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-16 07:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3479615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Pepper both travel more than Bruce, and are always glad to come home to him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Bruce often wonders just what the fuck he's doing here, working tech for fucking SHIELD of all places. Not that he minds the job at all. He likes lightboards, he likes playlists, and he likes men. Hidden up here in the booth, he can watch the action and help at the same time, and he doesn't have to talk to anybody. He's actually cool with most of the staff. Natasha first met him in the middle of a rage-out, so things are a bit delicate there, but generally things are fine. The customers can get really annoying, though, as can the bitchier of the dancers, and Bruce enjoys his safety. Up here he can manage lights and music and deal with no one but dancers, prowling up in their underwear or calling him over the office-style intercom with requests. Some of them are irritating and many of them love terrible music, but for most of the night it's just Bruce and the board and his choice of thousands of songs. He feels safe and cocooned here, tucked away in the dark. The door cracks open and he looks up, grinning to see Tony.

"Hey, Mr. DJ," Tony purrs, coming right over and settling on Bruce's lap, resting his head on his shoulder. Tony believes in being an involved owner, but he also believes in never missing the Stark Expo. Since Pepper has to put the thing on, he says the least he can do is attend and applaud and give some little speech about being glad to see the family name still in use.

"Hey," Bruce says softly, kissing Tony's cheek.

"Pepper should be along day after tomorrow, but I figured I'd grab a red-eye and come see how my favorite employee is doing."

Bruce rolls his eyes, and coos, "Better now that my sleazy employer is back."

"What's that? You wanna roleplay?"

Bruce laughs, reaching around Tony to adjust the lights on both small stages. "Not on the clock, boss."

"Are those sequins?"

"Hey, you hired him."

"Oh crap, that _is_ Roman. Funny, he seemed less queeny when I hired him."

"I think that was queenly reserve, Tony," Bruce says as Roman pantomimes licking the pole. Actually licking the pole is against house rules because that's how guys get staph infections on their shaved balls.

"At least he makes that trashy shit look good," Tony concedes.

"This from the man who worked in a black thong with red lip prints."

"And looked damn good doing it, which is my point."

Bruce chuckles, turning Tony's head to kiss him on the mouth before nudging him out of his lap. "Come on, I'm not going to miss my cues just because you're still hot."

"I know I could make you, but it's in my own best interests to hang out and be decorative instead." He does just that, watching as Bruce plays everyone offstage and the bouncers clear the floor. Once the place is closed down, Bruce isn't surprised when Tony kisses him again, long and hard and sloppy because they don't have to worry about the board anymore, and then leaves to walk the floor and make sure that everything is in order. Bruce uses the time to shut down and lock up. He goes in search of Tony afterward, and isn't surprised to find him backstage.

One of the things dancers say about SHIELD is that it's great to work for a guy who has actually done the job. Tony says this is a proud tradition, since he got the place from a couple of guys who had done their time onstage. Now he's listening to the tale of Steve and Peggy, as eagerly told by Bucky over Steve's embarrassed squawking.

"—so yeah, I sent her a fruit basket for sticking up for Steve."

"She really loved the blood oranges," Steve says as he pulls the first of his myriad shirts on, still flushed but calmer now that the worst is over.

"Well, you know," Bucky says, handing Steve the next one, "always spring for quality with a lady."

"You are wise beyond your years, Barnes," Tony tells him, and then turns and sees Bruce, where he's kind of hovering in the doorway, an old habit he can't seem to break. "C'mere, sweetheart." He doesn't say it with even a tinge of protective sarcasm, and Bruce can feel himself blushing almost as badly as Steve as he makes his way over. Tony just grins and puts an arm around him. "God, it's good to be home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roman is Namor the submariner. I will write him getting with my own semi-AU version of Sue Storm and Reed Richards at the SLIGHTEST provocation.
> 
> God alone knows what he's dancing to. This, maybe:  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ1WyBGG_Vw


	2. Chapter 2

Tony really does wonder how he and Pepper got along without Bruce. It had always been real between them, of course. Real and real good, but with Bruce here things are so much smoother, so much less stressful. Part of it is just how much they love him. Anything they fight about, they have to stop and agree that they adore Bruce and that he hates it when they fight. But he's also good at everything they can't offer each other. He can talk science with Tony and be a thoughtful human being for Pepper, and his cooking is amazing. This is to say nothing of the huge cock and the giving, kinky, open-minded nature to go with it. Tony snickers, and Bruce glances over. They're idling at a stoplight on the way home, Bruce's beat-up old hatchback cradling them with its familiar scent of Nag Champa and tea and the hippie-flavored all-natural snacks Bruce eats.

"Anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

"Just thinking of your various perfections, Teacher." Teacher-and-student stuff is perhaps Bruce's guiltiest kink, and he glares a little. It's adorable. "Seriously, I was wondering how Pepper and I ever got by without your sparkling personality, homemade curry, and enormous cock."

Bruce blushes bright red and pulls ahead as the light changes. "You seemed to be staggering along all right."

"Oh, we were a good couple, but with you we're a great trio." He smiles, studying Bruce's profile as he drives. "I'm just happy about it."

"The hell am I supposed to do with that?" Bruce mutters, and Tony laughs. He has quite a few ideas, but Bruce has had a long shift, so when they get home it's all tea and cuddling. Well, tea for Bruce and scotch on the rocks for Tony. His father drank, and he was a real bad drunk, but he says that Tony is helping him shift the association. Now he even kisses Tony's boozy mouth, and they stumble off to bed together, hand in hand.

Tony tends to sleep less than other people even when he's not totally wired or balls-deep in a scientific project, and now he watches Bruce wind down and drift off, his breathing coming slower and deeper until he's out like a light, looking adorable and unguarded in his sleep. Tony runs his fingers through Bruce's chest hair and smiles at the little noise of contentment that he makes.

People have always told Tony that he's too much. To back off, to tone it down, to not be such a goddamn psychotic extrovert. He has never taken this advice, and he's always grateful for that when he looks at Bruce. He and Pepper had gone from an on-again-off-again mess to an actual couple of actual adults right when Tony had been most obviously working out his daddy issues, ironically enough. Something about his freedom and her actually getting credit for the job she had already been doing about ninety percent of anyway had just _worked_. It had also added a bit of a kick to dancing, knowing that he really belonged to Pepper, and the job had given him a chance to prove himself as an ethical slut, the kind of guy who only fucks everyone when he's not in a committed relationship.

It was only after he had inherited SHIELD from his cranky gay uncles by unofficial adoption that he had met a snarling lunatic in a park and being an ethical slut had suddenly gotten really difficult. Bruce had been on the verge of an all-out brawl with a couple of frat boys too stupid to know what real crazy looked like. In the interests of public peace and general welfare, Tony had gotten right in the middle of it and convinced Bruce to come with him to a coffee shop before there had been any bloodshed, and the rest is history. A history of angst and really really really long and therefore horrible relationship talks with Pepper, but it was all totally worth it.

As if summoned by his thoughts, she texts him to say she'll be back tomorrow instead of the day after, and he grins, barely resisting the urge to wake Bruce up to tell him. Instead, he replies with a picture of Bruce's adorable sleeping face and a heart emoticon, and sets the phone aside, snuggling in against Bruce's side and closing his eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

It's always good to have the expo over with, and it's even better to get home afterward. She slips her feet back into her shoes and stands up when the 'fasten seat-belt' sign goes off, collecting her carry-on. She told Tony not to bother coming to get her. She's tired, but in a contented kind of way, and it's nice to sit in silence in the back of the cab and ruminate on her completed task without Tony being his exhaustingly loveable self. She's so glad they have Bruce, now. Somehow everything she finds obnoxious about Tony soothes him, and he hates the actually self-destructive stuff as much as she does.

The house is still standing when she gets back, which is a good sign. She pays the driver and goes in, the door left unlocked for her. She smiles, locking it behind her. One of the best things about running the Stark empire is not being famous. Those in the know would recognize her on the street, but there aren't many of them. Tony occasionally attracts paparazzi, but has been too emotionally stable to do anything stupid enough to interest them for some time. Bruce is a large part of that, and Pepper smiles, hanging up her jacket and sliding out of her shoes, taking her hair down as she walks to the main bedroom. Everyone has their own, for jet lag and solitude and insomnia, but they're closer to guestrooms. Here in the master bedroom is where the three of them spend almost all their time, and her boys are wrapped around each other and snuggled down into a nest of blankets.

Pepper takes the time to carefully remove her clothing and put everything away. It takes her a while to get down to her lingerie and stockings, and when she turns to the bed again, Tony is watching her with a sleepy smile.

"You look great like that," he says. "Then again, you always look great."

"Same to you, baby," she says, unhooking her bra and draping it over the back of a chair.

"Lemme help you," Tony says, reaching out with an affectionate leer.

"I suppose it's the least I can do," she says, and crawls into bed with him. Bruce is slowly waking up on the other side of him, making little muffled snorting noises and hugging Tony tightly around the middle as he slides Pepper's stockings off. He takes Bruce's hands and guides him through pulling her panties down. "Awake now?" she teases as he opens his eyes.

"Yeah," he husks, with that endearingly blurry look he gets when he's trying to see without his glasses. She leans across Tony and kisses him.

"Tits," Tony says, muffled by them, "Awesome." Pepper shudders at the motion of his lips and the scrape of his beard, and moans into Bruce's mouth when Tony sucks on one nipple, clever fingers pinching the other just right.

The two of them have a way of passing her back and forth like some kind of cherished love token, a diamond ring or an heirloom necklace. They touch her in the loving, greedy way people touch precious stones, but they also gaze deep into her eyes in silent communion with her, loving her as much as they want her. It's a delicate balance. Other people haven't managed it, but Bruce is worthy of their bed.

The first round is all about Pepper. Tony and Bruce hardly let her do anything, just covering her in kisses and mumbling about how glad they are to have her back, and a day early at that. After a few feeble efforts to reciprocate, she just melts and lets them lick and finger her through two orgasms before they'll even let her get started. Afterward she can barely keep her eyes open, and grumbles complaint as she drifts down toward sleep.

"Ssshh, baby," Tony says. "Take a nap and I'll dance for you when you wake up." He has his moments of insecurity (the day he found his first grey hair will live long in Pepper's memory) but as far as Pepper is concerned, he has only improved with age.

"Nothing frenetic and no AC/DC," Pepper decrees, yawning and cuddling back against Bruce's chest. He rumbles contentedly, pressing a kiss behind her ear.

"Anything you want," Tony says, snuggling close and putting his arm around both of them. Bruce makes a soft, sweet noise in his throat, and Pepper smiles.

"Damn right." She kisses Bruce's hand and Tony's cheek, yawning again. "Maybe 'Erection.' You've always liked that one."

"Wish like hell it had come out while I was still working," Tony agrees, and he and Bruce both yawn.

"Nap now," Pepper mumbles, "dance later." Bruce chuckles, and they cradle her in their shared warmth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Erection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cLghY41klM


End file.
